LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has announced that the provincial government will spend Rs27 billion on the upgradation of over 27,000 secondary schools in phase-wise educational reforms.
In a press conference on Saturday, the chief minister said the government has planned to upgrade the Punjab educational system in three phases to upgrade about 27,000 schools across the province. In the first phase that will start on Aug 1, 21,000 elementary schools will be upgraded at a cost of Rs17 billion.
In the second phase, at least 6,653 elementary schools will be upgraded to high schools, whereas in the third phase the government will allocate money to upgrade high schools to the higher secondary level schools. The second and third phase will start at a later date.
Buzdar said the aforementioned phases were delayed because the government had to allocate Rs30 billion to metro bus and Orange Line Metro Train projects.
Buzdar claimed the previous government upgraded 1,251 during 2008-13, adding that the PTI upgraded 1,227 schools in just one year.
In Jan, Buzdar approved a mega three-year plan of Rs740 billion to introduce reforms in the provincial education sector. A summary was sent to Buzdar for the approval of the mega project to bring improvement in schools.
The CM approved the summary and said that it would be presented before the cabinet for the release of funds. According to a media report at the time, Rs1.8 billion would be spent on improving the condition of classrooms, Rs6 billion for provision of computer labs, Rs10 billion for furniture, Rs1.5 billion for science labs, and Rs65 billion for libraries and playgrounds.
